Biography of an EA82T Hi-Rise Intake

[nncoolg]

Well, I am thinking about geting an older subaru again, so I decided to get my Hi-Rise intake out today and have a look at it for some motivation, I was suprised, I never noticed that the plenum was so big before, it is huge! No wonder they are such an improvement over the standard horizontal intake! While having a play I noticed that with VERY little effort, the intake can be reversed, allowing for a front-facing throttle, I am now very keen to grab an L or XT series !

some photos:

This is the Injector block, which forms the bottom part of the manifold, one on each side, coolant crossover casting mates-up to these:




This is what they ports are like, much better than the carby EA's thats for sure! :




This is how the whole thing looks and measures, without all the vaccum / fuel lines under it:




You can really see just how large the plenum is:




This is the intake top mounted the Correct Way (throtle facing rear):




Reversed (facing forward - shorter intake length with FMICs):




What it fouls when reversed - EGR input, just bend the vac. lines, or use 3mm silicon hoses!:




Plenum is plenty big enough for a larger throttle or twin throttle even!:

[Subafury]

nice i hope it works for ya! if u get another turbo L. i always wanted a spider intake for mine.

[discopotato03]

The later Vortex inlet manifold (AKA Spider intake) is certainly the better of the two factory options though hardly perfect .

To look at them disassembled (I've three of them) the ports are still smallish from the plenum chamber to the injector adapter section and the runners are not thick walled enought to get them anything like the size of an EJ20 manifold .

Agreed the plenum chamber is larger than the garden variety MPFI L series one which doesn't have a whole lot of "plenum" volume .
Some people seem to think that the "Spider" intakes throttle plate is larger than the L Series one but I think I measured them ages ago and they work out close to if not the exact same size .
Actually the Spider throttlebody (and ithe intakes wiring loom) are a real PITA
because they were designed specifically to suit a Vortex/XT4 and not L Series cars . The wiring loom disappears back through the middle of a Vortexes firewall - not over to the drivers side like a RHD L Series .
The throttle quadrant and throttle position switch are the opposite way around compared to L Series and the throttle shaft rotates in the opposite direction . These traits are more akin to ER27 and EJ series engines .
IMO the fix (for L Ser conversions) is to make up an aluminium plate the same footprint as the L throttlebody and weld it to the back of the spider plenums chamber . Basically the spider TB has a slightly different bolt pattern and only the top two holes of an L TB line up on a spider plenum . The lower two holes are too high on the plenum so to extend down far enough without spacing the TB too far back welding the above mentioned adapter plate on is the most straightforward fix IMO .
Once this is done either early or late L MPFI TB's fit with their respective TPS and should plug in as per normal . Mods are required to get the throttle cable to fit up .

I'm not so sure attempting to mody the Spider engine loom is the way to go .
You would have to extend the loom plugs far enough to reach where the L's body side loom plugs are and that means every wire .
I have not reached this stage yet but I'm predicting my people will say easier in the long run to use the L MPFI engine loom and extend only the necessary wires to reach sensors too far away to just plug straight in .

On the engine spec side of things I've noticed that Spider Vortex EA82/EA82T engines tended to use slightly longer period (duration) camshafts than the equivalent L series ones .

I see three main advantages in the Spider vs the L inlet manifolds .

1) The upper or plenum section is less exposed to water gallery heat .
2) Increased plenum volume .
3) Much gentler curves in the runners leading to the inlet ports - longer too .

Not the most straightforward conversion into a L Series but very doable .

PS It makes life a lot easier in an EA82T app if you can get the TB to turbo outlet bulb/pipe thing . I have a couple of them and they'll make great temporaries until the WAIC goes in .

PS2 ! Most Spiders I've noticed have the EGR passage blocked with carbon which will please some and aggravate others .

Have fun , cheers A .

[El_Freddo]

Nice, I've never seen one of these up close like this before - always wanted one for my NA MPFI to see what the difference was, but never found a turbo vortex with one on it - all were the garden variety intake...

Since I've ditched the MPFI '82 route and am looking at the EJ path, I have no need for this anymore...

Good luck with it.

Cheers

Bennie

[nncoolg]

Disco - do you have any of said XT throttle bodies?

[discopotato03]

Yes I have two of those , the original set of Spider castings was nude ie no rails TB or sensors .

Personally I would not use them in anything except an original late Spider equipt Vortex/XT4 .

A .

[nncoolg]

demoralised now

[Gannon]

Originally Posted by discopotato03

Personally I would not use them in anything except an original late Spider equipt Vortex/XT4

Why?

I am pulling off my manifold soon to add a powersteering bracket,... one of these looks mighty tempting,... can i have one?

[nncoolg]

dibs on the bare one, to disect it & complete the biography!

[discopotato03]

What I ment was I wouldn't use the Vortex backwards upside down throttlebody on anything accept an XT4 - begrudgingly - until its TPS failed .

Sorry gentlemen , the insects stay with me until Ellies got a new windpipe .

When I'm tired of this gal no ones going to want to pay me what it's worth so she'll probably get parted out , hateful task and been there before but I've had to globe trot for the tasty bits and usually they don't come cheap .

Cheers A .